The trailer for Join Us first appeared during the Xbox Showcase in June, offering a glimpse of a darkly humorous co‑op cult simulator. In the clip, robed cultists ride on pigs, unleash a barrage of machine‑gun fire, and the sequence culminates in a nightmarish vision of Cthulhu‑like tentacles. One detail that didn’t make the final cut was the infamous snake gun – a weapon that, according to Joe Dietsch, CEO and creative director of Wolf Haus Games, was born from a child’s whimsical suggestion.
"One of our team member’s son asked, ‘What would a snake‑shooting gun look like?’ We had a rapid‑prototyping tool that let us scale a weapon in minutes, so I whipped up a snake‑gun in about half an hour. The kid went nuts, and we kept it in the game," Dietsch recounts.
This anecdote captures the chaotic, experimental spirit that defines Join Us, an open‑world sandbox survival game where players can recruit followers or invite friends into a 1970s‑style cult. It also illustrates the studio’s technology‑first mindset, which has enabled a small crew to produce a high‑fidelity title that would normally require a much larger staff. Michael Abbott, Wolf Haus’s chief operating officer, summed up the ambition: "We wanted to be disruptors.
Everyone told us you need a hundred people to pull off something like this, but we believed twelve could do it." Their confidence wasn’t naïve; the founders came from indie‑film backgrounds where they routinely achieved big results on shoestring budgets. "We’re used to punching well above our weight," Abbott says.
After 80 pitches, the team finally secured equity financing from Krafton and Lifelike Capital, giving Wolf Haus the runway to finish the game. The founders’ Hollywood pedigree runs deep. Dietsch studied film at Chapman University alongside Louie Gibson, son of Mel Gibson, who later co‑founded Wolf Haus and co‑wrote and co‑directed the indie features Happy Hunting and Manifest West. Abbott is the son of veteran makeup artist Larry Abbott and helped launch Ascendant Pictures, the production company originally founded by Chris Roberts before his shift to Star Citizen.
Abbott later produced films such as Fight for ’84, starring Jamie Foxx. This blend of cinematic experience and entrepreneurial grit set the tone for the studio’s approach to game development.
Join Us originated from Dietsch’s early experiments in Unreal Engine. "I discovered Unreal was free to download, and I’d always loved games but felt there was a huge barrier to actually creating something," he explains.
He taught himself through YouTube tutorials, built a few small prototypes, and eventually gravitated toward a doomsday‑cult concept that merged survival mechanics with grindhouse cinema aesthetics. The proof‑of‑concept demo impressed Abbott, who then introduced it to Dooma, a production partner that helped flesh out the vision. Dooma Wendschuh, Wolf Haus’s CFO and narrative director, entered the picture after a varied career that spanned film production, screenwriting, and video‑game narrative work.
He founded Sekretagent Productions, providing writing services for titles such as Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, and Batman: Arkham Origins. In the 2010s he launched several tech ventures, most notably the cannabis formulation company Ebbu, which sold for C$430 million (approximately $330 million USD).
After selling Ebbu, Wendschuh bought a remote island restaurant in Canada, intending to retire. Yet a chance call from his old Hollywood‑Hills roommate, Michael Abbott, pulled him back into the industry. "I saw the demo Joe had built and it blew my mind – it convinced me to come out of retirement," Wendschuh says.
Through Wendschuh’s network, Wolf Haus recruited Reid Schneider, former VP at Warner Bros. Games and now head of Raccoon Logic (the studio behind Journey to the Savage Planet), as a strategic advisor. Schneider also brought in Pierre‑Olivier Chartrand, a veteran programmer from Ubisoft Montreal, to serve as chief technology officer.
With this core team in place, the studio turned its attention to funding during a market downturn. Initial outreach in summer 2023 yielded interest but no commitments; after partnering with CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and re‑pitching in 2024, they secured seed investment from Lifelike Capital and Krafton. Abbott credits CAA’s representation—also handling titles like 007: First Light—as a key factor, along with the credibility of industry veterans Schneider and Chartrand. "My agent at CAA, Derek Douglas, had represented me for 12 years in games and even headed the video‑game department at William Morris," Wendschuh notes.
What truly sets Join Us apart is how it is being built: a 13‑person full‑time team that maintains a tight‑knit, collaborative culture. "We wanted everyone to have a voice and to touch the creative process," says Dietsch.
To make such an ambitious open‑world game feasible with a small staff, the studio invested heavily in custom tooling from day one. "Any system in the game must be scalable and debuggable by a single person," Dietsch explains.
The first year of development was therefore split between ideating gameplay and engineering the tools that would later allow the world to expand without collapsing under its own complexity. The funding structure further enabled this approach. Krafton and Lifelike’s equity stakes meant the studio could self‑finance the development, using the capital to build the necessary tools and only later seeking project‑specific financing for marketing. "Equity investors want the studio to increase its enterprise value, so they support us in building extensive toolsets," Wendschuh says.
This philosophy sometimes slows immediate progress but ultimately empowers the tiny team to achieve what larger studios might consider impossible. When asked about the role of generative AI, the team is unequivocal: they do not rely on it for creative work. "We believe a human touch is essential. Using AI to generate assets would defeat the purpose of why we love making games," Dietsch asserts.
Wendschuh adds that the studio only uses AI for mundane tasks like calendar management and email drafting. Interestingly, Krafton—publicly positioning itself as an "AI‑first" company—insisted that Wolf Haus avoid generative AI in the creative pipeline, mirroring a similar stance taken by Krafton‑owned Neon Giant. The commitment to handcrafted content is evident in the game’s scale.
The six‑kilometre‑square map is entirely hand‑built, and the 15,000 voice lines were recorded by human actors, not synthetic voices. "Even as a tiny indie, we felt it was crucial to keep that human element," Dietsch emphasizes.
Dietsch also reflects on the differences between film and game creation. In cinema, an idea can take years to materialize, requiring countless approvals and the involvement of high‑profile talent before production even begins. By contrast, a game idea can be prototyped within hours, allowing immediate iteration.
"You can have an idea this morning, drop it into the engine, and see it in action by lunch," he says, highlighting the immediacy that fuels his passion for interactive media. Wendschuh points out that film production is front‑loaded with intense, high‑stakes set work, often dependent on securing a few marquee names to greenlight a project. While anyone can technically shoot a backyard movie, breaking through without major talent or distribution is rare.
Games, however, have far fewer gatekeepers; a small team can launch a successful title without A‑list actors or directors. This democratization is a core reason why Wolf Haus believes a twelve‑person studio can compete with industry giants. Both founders agree that the underlying creative drive—telling stories and delivering experiences—remains the same across mediums.
"When I was six, I wanted to make either games or movies. It came down to a coin toss and maybe getting a camera for Christmas," Dietsch recalls. He learned programming on a TI‑83 calculator, blending technical curiosity with narrative ambition. Whether through film or interactive entertainment, the goal is to craft an engaging story, and that shared purpose continues to guide Wolf Haus as they bring Join Us to life.